KEY TRENDS   • According to NSS 76th Round, the major source of drinking water of the household was hand pump in the rural areas and piped water into dwelling in the urban areas. About 42.9 percent of the households in the rural areas used hand pump as the principal source of drinking water and about 40.9 percent of the households in the urban areas used piped water into dwelling as the principal...

KEY TRENDS   • During 2014-15, while procurement of foodgrains (rice and wheat) increased from 56.9 million tonnes to 60.2 million tonnes, offtake of foodgrains (rice and wheat) from the PDS decreased from 59.8 million tonnes to 55.9 million tonnes. Despite increased availability in the PDS and prevalence of high inflation in foodgrains, dependence on the PDS is reducing, suggesting that there may be issues of availability, timely availability and quality of the PDS foodgrains...

Government of India is preparing to allot alternative sites to the South Korean mining giant POSCO for its Rs 51000 crore steel plant in Orissa because it fears a major tribal backlash against forced displacement from their lands and livelihoods. The plan is to ‘arrange’ alternative sites for the company without moving it out of the state. It is no secret that the hugely profitable mining industry thrives on corruption...